


Retrospect

by LeggoxMyxGreggo



Category: Fury (2014)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hop up on the feels train, Just a short drabble, Oneshot, Sorry Not Sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-23
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-26 17:39:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2660702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeggoxMyxGreggo/pseuds/LeggoxMyxGreggo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>retrospect (noun)<br/>a survey or review of a past course of events or period of time</p>
<p>Or.</p>
<p>There's a spark in Norman that Grady has to protect at all costs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Retrospect

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for my absence and then just popping out with some sad shit. But I'm really not sorry. I'm still taking requests, might be a bit slow coming between work and day-to-day military life getting all up in my off time. My tumblr is still blastababy for those of you who want to message me privately.

                 It wasn't that he hated the kid, it was that there was something in him that made Grady jealous and overprotective at the same time. They weren't feelings he was used to having towards the men, not when he could help it at least though worry was generally the worst of the emotions that he felt towards all of them in this damned war. But there was something about the way that Norman looked at things, the way his eyes lit up as he taught him about some of the repairs on the tank or when Don cradled the back of his neck the way he did when they did good. The fact that Norman brought these up in him made him defensive, the last thing he wanted was for him to get attached. Hell, that was the one thing they were told not to do. Don't get too attached. But as he watches Norman try to form the foreign words that Don and Gordo taught him, he couldn't help feeling attached. That this kid was something worth protecting. They all knew it.  
                Even when Boyd had first joined the tank and he looked over them in his cool confidence, Grady had felt that this was his brother, his friend and equal. So what if he caused him some shit, he would always be the first jumping to the religious man's defence as the other tank crews mocked him. It was nothing close to the brotherly feeling towards Norman, it was like when he had met his youngest brother the first time, held that baby in his hands, and vowed he would always keep him safe.   
Grady doubted that Don had ever had that bright look that drew them all in to Norman's circle like moths to a flame, he seemed to be something else completely, something that Grady definitely didn't need to protect but he was going to stand beside that man through hell and back if he could help it. Don was their protector and he could see in his face that the man felt exactly as he did for this kid. If Grady was more of a betting man, he would put everything he owned on the fact that all of them felt that need. There was a lust for life that wasn't yet tarnished by war and he hoped for Boyd's aim to ring true every time so that he and the man would be the ones who harbored the guilt that still came as they took the lives of the Nazi's around them just so Norman wouldn't have to.   
                He sat back against the wall and watches Norman, a small grin on his face as the kid made some stupid joke to them over the comms, he hadn't been listening but the punchline was sarcastic enough that Grady couldn't help belting a laugh as he took a drag of his cigarette. A tank of comedians was what they were. He closes his eyes to savor the feeling of the nicotine as he exhales slowly, listening to the chorus of his brothers laughing in his ear, even Don's gut laughter that he was sure he hadn't heard since Africa. The kid was like a breath of fresh air, making him feel like maybe he could make it out of this whole thing okay.   
Gordo's laughter makes Grady open his eyes and he gives the driver a lazy grin as he caught his eye. He was a good man as well, religious enough but not so much that he was as fun to tease as Boyd was. Though drunk more often than not, he doesn't need to be taken care of. Not in the same way. Gordo made him want to run into danger head first with their brothers at his back. Never had he felt that he was dependant on that glint that even while he was drunk, still showed through his eyes stayed lit. He didn't feel that he needed that look to stay sane. The flame had never been as bright, Gordo was a man who had seen some shit before the war, knew some of the darkness of man that he himself had only just learned over these past few years.   
                Now as they sat at the crossroads, Grady lets out a shaky breath and for the first time in years he closes his eyes and he prays. He prays that if he doesn't make it, that his men could that Norman could. That Boyd and Don, Gordo and Norman would be okay or at the least that they would die as brothers. And maybe he's kind of happy as he realizes that he's the first to get hit bad enough that he couldn't even feel it after the initial impact. He's happy that he gets to see his brothers well as he dies and that as far as he would ever know, Norman would be okay and he would still laugh like he had over the description of the broken track or tell stupid jokes that were only saved by his dry sarcasm. So long as that light was still there, then Grady was sure that he hadn't lived or died in vain.


End file.
